Hooray, it’s time for our next edition of Ask Oppa / Ask Unnie! We hope you’ve been enjoying this monthly column, and if you have any suggestions for improving it, please let us know. We always love to hear from you, whether you’re submitting us questions, sending us news tips, or making any suggestions on how the writing team can improve as a whole. You can send us feedback and suggestions to tip@soshified.com, and once again we’ll attach the rules for submitting Ask Oppa / Ask Unnie questions below:

1) Email ALL questions that you want to have answered to tip@soshified.com and please write “Ask Column” as the subject. Any questions left in the comments, emailed to other addresses, or incorrectly labelled will NOT be answered.

4) This isn’t actually a rule, but a friendly hint about sending us questions. There is NO deadline for submitting questions. If we did not answer your question this month, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will never answer it. We can always save questions for later months.

So what did you all ask us this month? Let’s find out!

If SNSD members didn’t choose to be singers and never debuted, what occupations do you both think will suit our girls most?
– Yinfany, in Singapore

You know, if they weren’t doing this.

michaelroni-oppa says:
Wow, it’s such a difficult thing to try and imagine the girls doing anything else. Somehow I see Taeyeon as a teacher at a children’s school. In my mind, her youthful energy and adorkable personality would translate well when it comes to dealing with children. I think Jessica would make a fine photographer, as I remember seeing her enthusiastically taking shots during behind-the-scenes footage from last year’s SM Town concerts. Sunny could be a veterinarian since she’s so great with animals, or perhaps a farmer since she seemed right at home during Invincible Youth. I imagine Tiffany becoming a fashion designer, though her entire clothing line would probably be pink. Hyoyeon would be perfect as a dance instructor/choreographer. In this kind of alternate life, Hyoyeon would be creating dance routines for girl groups rather than performing them on stage herself. I flashed back to the “Into The New World” days and thought of Yuri as the manager of a small cafe. Her bright smile and open personality can charm people easily, and if she ran a cafe I imagine that it’d attract lots of regular customers. With her tall, skinny body and her beautiful face, Sooyoung could easily be a full-time model. While it’s technically already an occupation that she’s had, I would love to see Yoona become a top actress on TV, in movies, and in the theater. We’ve already heard Seohyun talk about her ambitions to become a diplomat, so it’s pretty simple to determine what occupation would suit her best if she wasn’t a singer.

Procrastinatoress-unnie says:
They’d all be members of a special elite crime-investigation unit composed of specialists in different fields working under a top secret government branch. You know, they’d have cool outfits…and guns…and stuff. :3 They’ll save the Republic of Korea from countless terrorist efforts and save the world a couple of times. Trust me, it makes a lot of sense in my head. But in all seriousness, I think Taeyeon and Sooyoung would have ended up in showbiz anyway, maybe as announcers. Yoona as well, but as an actress I guess? Sunny would be on a farm. Jessica would be working as an editor for a fashion magazine, while Tiffany would be a savvy business woman, with both of them back in California. Seohyun would work for the UN as a diplomat haha. Yuri would be working at a pharmacy, selling both modern medicine and Chinese herbal remedies. Hyoyeon would still be a little dance machine lol, maybe with her own studio.

Which Soshi pairing is uncommon, like very (very) few moments or maybe even a hint of awkwardness?
– arrozun, in Texas, USA

michaelroni-oppa says:
The Michael-Sica pairing is pretty uncommon and very awkward, since we’re both pretty shy around new and unfamiliar people. Oh wait, we’re talking about Soshi pairings?

Procrastinatoress-unnie says:
My cute HyoTae! Ho ho ho they make me laugh. That’s not to say they don’t get along. They make each other laugh and are close as sisters, as are all the girls. I remember Hyoyeon saying that she was awkward with Taeyeon at the beginning though, and it reeeally is visible when you pay attention. It’s like…awkward eye contacts…and awkward hugs… But these days everyone is very close. It’s just amusing to watch HyoTae, that’s all. And also, Michael-SoShi pairings are all awkward. They run away from him. They all like me better. Just sayin’. (Michael-editor’s note: Procrastinatoress is off in her fantasy dream land again.)

In reference to Tiffany’s answer to the strength of SNSD, what is the SoshiBond to you? Since almost all groups in the K-pop industry may have a similar kind of bond with their members, what makes the SoshiBond unique and special?
– Cheriosk, in Canada

michaelroni-oppa says:
To me, the greatest strength of the SoshiBond is that they don’t just seem like fellow group members, but that they actually seem like nine sisters. They are not friends; they are family. It’s a bond that was formed over years of training, struggling together to climb up the charts, and sitting down together every night as a whole group of nine to simply talk to one another. I don’t follow any other group as closely as I follow Girls’ Generation, but every time I watch a show with all nine members, I get a sense of how irreplaceable each member is. With many other groups, you could remove a member here or replace them with someone different, and the group would carry on as normal. With Girls’ Generation, the uniqueness of their bond lies in that unbreakable family mentality. It’s that sense of awkwardness and incompleteness that we feel when we have to witness the unfortunate (though rare) situation where they perform without all nine members. To me, that’s the simplest possible answer for what makes the SoshiBond so unique.

Procrastinatoress-unnie says:
It’s true that most groups have tight bonds, but the reason why I’m an Girls’ Generation fan today is because out of all the groups I came across, they seemed the most close and loving. They are more of a family than a group, don’t you think? I think because Girls’ Generation has gone through more trials and suffering than your average group, they came out closer on the other side. Because they had to lean on and support one another, and all they had was each other, I think they truly keep the other members in their hearts. All the members have such chemistry too, you know? It’s interesting how so many compatible personalities came to find one another. There’s loud ones and quiet ones, tough ones and soft ones, yet somehow they complement each other. A miracle, perhaps?

If you could choose one trait or aspect from any of the girls, what would it be? And would you try to instill (unless you already have) that one thing into your own personality?
– tofuluva, in California, USA

michaelroni-oppa says:
I wish I could have Seohyun’s strong ambition. While I see myself as a person who always wants to work hard and is rarely completely satisfied with my work, if you were to ask me what my greatest ambitions are, I wouldn’t really be able to give you a straight answer. I don’t really have that strong-willed mindset that Seohyun does, where she sets her sights on a seemingly impossible goal that is many years down the line but maintains an unshakeable confidence that she’ll reach that goal. As a SONE, I often try to incorporate the best traits from Girls’ Generation’s members into my own life, but that is the number one trait that I wish I could fully emulate.

Procrastinatoress-unnie says:
Why just one? The girls are so much more than just celebrities; they are role models, too. Taeyeon can teach you responsibility, Jessica can teach patience, Sunny teaches compassion, Tiffany teaches inner strength, Hyoyeon and Yuri both teach good humour and how to enjoy life, Yoona teaches humility, and Seohyun teaches respect. They’re all amazing people with amazing qualities, and I think SONEs can learn from them. Personally I’d like to get me some of what Hyo has. She just blazes through life with so much energy and laughter, and doesn’t worry about anything.